Members of the IMPACT trade union have joined junior hospital doctors at Tallaght Hospital in warning about the effect of reducing staffing levels.
The union, which represents 400 staff at the hospital, said in a statement yesterday that many specialist services in the hospital were severely strained because of under-staffing and increasing demand. These services included speech therapy, occupational therapy, social work, physiotherapy and diet preparation.
Mr Kevin Callanan, IMPACT's national secretary for health, said: "The issue of threatened job losses is crucial, but the problems at Tallaght go much deeper. Current service levels are way below what was promised to the people of Tallaght and its surrounding area. Unless action is taken, it is only a matter of time before some services have to be withdrawn."
On Monday, a spokesman for the non-consultant hospital doctors, said that the fundamental problem was the lack of any proper demographic study of the hospital's new catchment area and subsequent under-funding of vital services.